THE FLEECE AS ROYAL POWER
Literary critics are particularly favorable to the interpretation that the Golden Fleece is a literary symbol for the legitimacy of the monarch, since literary critics are particularly entranced by the idea of Symbols. The argument derives from two very simple elements of the myth, that Pelias tells Jason he must retrieve the Fleece to be king and that Aeetes believes that possession of the Fleece guarantees his kingdom:
Pindar, Pythian 4
(Pelias speaking): [G]o to the house of Aietes, and bring thence the thick-fleeced hide of the ram [...] This deed do thou offer me to do, and I swear to give thee up the sway and kingly rule.
Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History, 4.3
Afterwards the king was told by the oracle, that he should die when some sea-faring men came thither, and carried away the golden fleece.
Hyginus, Fabulae, 22
Aeetes, son of the Sun, was told that he would keep his kingdom so long as the Fleece, which Phrixus has dedicated, stayed in the sanctuary of Mars.
Therefore, because of this and because Jason needs the Fleece to demonstrate his right to the throne of Iolcus, many have concluded that the Fleece represents a talisman of royal power. In support of this, scholars cite the only other occurrence of a golden ram in Greek myth, the story of Atreus and the kingship of Mycenae. In the myth, possession of the golden ram granted its owner royal legitimacy. The myth is given below in the version recorded in the epitome to Apollodorus' Library.
Pindar, Pythian 4
(Pelias speaking): [G]o to the house of Aietes, and bring thence the thick-fleeced hide of the ram [...] This deed do thou offer me to do, and I swear to give thee up the sway and kingly rule.
Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History, 4.3
Afterwards the king was told by the oracle, that he should die when some sea-faring men came thither, and carried away the golden fleece.
Hyginus, Fabulae, 22
Aeetes, son of the Sun, was told that he would keep his kingdom so long as the Fleece, which Phrixus has dedicated, stayed in the sanctuary of Mars.
Therefore, because of this and because Jason needs the Fleece to demonstrate his right to the throne of Iolcus, many have concluded that the Fleece represents a talisman of royal power. In support of this, scholars cite the only other occurrence of a golden ram in Greek myth, the story of Atreus and the kingship of Mycenae. In the myth, possession of the golden ram granted its owner royal legitimacy. The myth is given below in the version recorded in the epitome to Apollodorus' Library.
Another aspect of the Golden Fleece and royal power is the symbolism of gold as a color associated with divinity and royalty.
The poets ascribe golden thrones, sceptres and ornaments to the gods, to kings (their earthly representatives), and to heroes, who have much of the divine in their natures. As we would expect, this is especially true of the Sun and his race. Helios drives a golden chariot all day, and at night is carried in a golden bed41 back to the startingpoint of his labors; the golden cup in which Heracles sails across the ocean is his; his cattle are white with golden horns; his descendants are recognized by the far-flashing golden gleam in their eyes, or wear a golden-rayed nimbus. Phrixus sacrificed the golden-fleeced ram, the gift of the gods, to Zeus, but presented the shining pelt to Aeetes, son of Helios.
Source: Mary Emma Armstrong, The Significance of Certain Colors in Roman Ritual (Menasha, Wisc.: George Banta, 1917), 41-42.
The most interesting royal power interpretation is perhaps that of Mary Margoleis DeForest, who argued that the Fleece is a symbol of royal power, but only in the mind of Aeetes. In Apollonius' Argonautica, she wrote in Apollonius' Argonautica: A Callimachean Epic (1994), the Golden Fleece is a "golden mirror" in which the characters see reflected whatever they value most (Leiden: Brill, p. 148).
Epitome of the Library of Apollodorus
E.2.10-14
[E.2.10] The sons of Pelops were Pittheus, Atreus, Thyestes, and others. Now the wife of Atreus was Aerope, daughter of Catreus, and she loved Thyestes. And Atreus once vowed to sacrifice to Artemis the finest of his flocks; but when a golden lamb appeared, they say that he neglected to perform his vow,
[E.2.11] and having choked the lamb, he deposited it in a box and kept it there, and Aerope gave it to Thyestes, by whom she had been debauched. For the Mycenaeans had received an oracle which bade them choose a Pelopid for their king, and they had sent for Atreus and Thyestes. And when a discussion took place concerning the kingdom, Thyestes declared to the multitude that the kingdom ought to belong to him who owned the golden lamb, and when Atreus agreed, Thyestes produced the lamb and was made king.
[E.2.12] But Zeus sent Hermes to Atreus and told him to stipulate with Thyestes that Atreus should be king if the sun should go backward; and when Thyestes agreed, the sun set in the east; hence the deity having plainly attested the usurpation of Thyestes, Atreus got the kingdom and banished Thyestes.
[E.2.13] But afterwards being apprized of the adultery, he sent a herald to Thyestes with a proposal of accommodation; and when he had lured Thyestes by a pretence of friendship, he slaughtered the sons, Aglaus, Callileon, and Orchomenus, whom Thyestes had by a Naiad nymph, though they had sat down as suppliants on the altar of Zeus. And having cut them limb from limb and boiled them, he served them up to Thyestes without the extremities; and when Thyestes had eaten heartily of them, he showed him the extremities, and cast him out of the country.
[E.2.14] But seeking by all means to pay Atreus out, Thyestes inquired of the oracle on the subject, and received an answer that it could be done if he were to beget a son by intercourse with his own daughter. He did so accordingly, and begot Aegisthus by his daughter. And Aegisthus, when he was grown to manhood and had learned that he was a son of Thyestes, killed Atreus, and restored the kingdom to Thyestes.
Source: "Epitome," in Apollodorus, The Library, trans. Sir James George Frazer (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1921).
[E.2.11] and having choked the lamb, he deposited it in a box and kept it there, and Aerope gave it to Thyestes, by whom she had been debauched. For the Mycenaeans had received an oracle which bade them choose a Pelopid for their king, and they had sent for Atreus and Thyestes. And when a discussion took place concerning the kingdom, Thyestes declared to the multitude that the kingdom ought to belong to him who owned the golden lamb, and when Atreus agreed, Thyestes produced the lamb and was made king.
[E.2.12] But Zeus sent Hermes to Atreus and told him to stipulate with Thyestes that Atreus should be king if the sun should go backward; and when Thyestes agreed, the sun set in the east; hence the deity having plainly attested the usurpation of Thyestes, Atreus got the kingdom and banished Thyestes.
[E.2.13] But afterwards being apprized of the adultery, he sent a herald to Thyestes with a proposal of accommodation; and when he had lured Thyestes by a pretence of friendship, he slaughtered the sons, Aglaus, Callileon, and Orchomenus, whom Thyestes had by a Naiad nymph, though they had sat down as suppliants on the altar of Zeus. And having cut them limb from limb and boiled them, he served them up to Thyestes without the extremities; and when Thyestes had eaten heartily of them, he showed him the extremities, and cast him out of the country.
[E.2.14] But seeking by all means to pay Atreus out, Thyestes inquired of the oracle on the subject, and received an answer that it could be done if he were to beget a son by intercourse with his own daughter. He did so accordingly, and begot Aegisthus by his daughter. And Aegisthus, when he was grown to manhood and had learned that he was a son of Thyestes, killed Atreus, and restored the kingdom to Thyestes.
Source: "Epitome," in Apollodorus, The Library, trans. Sir James George Frazer (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1921).
